Once Upon A Time
by Ikonopeiston
Summary: A fairy tale


Disclaimer: I do not own these characters; I just move them around. Square/Enix holds the ownership papers. So don't sue me.

A/N: I do not like to use Author's Notes, feeling a story should be able to speak for itself. However one anonymous (ebby) reviewer was so upset at my apparent AU ignorance of FFX I feel forced to explain to that person. Dear thoughtful ebb, what part of 'fairy story' do you not understand? This is just an old man telling a bedtime story to his grandchildren. All legendary exploits get transmuted by time. This is not AU, nor is it an attempt to change anything in the canon. It's just an old man telling a story. BTW: did you manage to figure out who the old man is? If not, send me an e-mail and I'll explain the whole thing to you – including the parts you say 'made no sense'.

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Once Upon A Time 

"Once upon a time," the old man settled himself more comfortably in his chair before the fire, wrapping the knitted shawl about his shoulders and settling both hands on the knob of the cane held between his knees. "Once upon a time."

"Is this going to be a fairy tale?" the little girl at his feet looked up hopefully. "All fairy tales start that way."

"Yes, Grandpa," the little boy chimed in. "That's the way fairy tales start."

"If you two will stop interrupting, it may turn out to be a fairy tale; right now it's just four words."

"Yeah, Grail, stop interrupting," the little girl shoved her brother.

"It's you doing the interrupting, not me. Isn't she, Grandpa?"

"Both of you be quiet or your mother will come take you to bed." The old man lifted his chin from his hands, his thin strands of white hair almost henna colored in the fire-light. "Now, where was I? Oh yes, once upon a time there was a beautiful magic land called Spira ..."

"That's us!" the girl, Juna, sang out happily. "Is it about us?"

The two males ignored her. "There was a magic land called Spira in which beautiful magic people lived. The land was under the rule of a great dragon called Sin who demanded tribute from the people."

"What kind of tribute and what does 'tribute' mean?" Grail could not be silent for long.

"Tribute is something like taxes. Sin made the people pay him so he wouldn't eat them. Well, every ten years Sin woke up and burned a few villages, and killed a few Spirans and hatched a fresh batch of fiends so the people had to do something to put him back to sleep. Now, in this time I'm talking about – when Spira was most beautiful and had the most magic – there were some young people ..."

"Young as us, Grandpa?" Juna loved to hear stories about people her own age.

"Well, maybe a little older." Her grandfather smiled at her. "These young people decided to do something about Sin themselves and put him to sleep for a long, long time – maybe forever."

"What were their names?" Grail liked names; they helped him to see the people in his head.

"Oh, they had names like Yuna, Tidus, Paine, Rikku, Baralai, Gippal and Nooj. Ordinary names. They decided to stop paying the tribute, taxes, to Sin and to persuade the dragon to leave the people alone. So they set out on a long journey and had many adventures. And that, my dear grandchildren, is what this fairy tale is about."

The children squirmed into position to listen, Grail cross-legged and looking into his grandsire's face, Juna leaning against his lower legs. The old man gazed into the fire and began again.

"The little group of heroes had finally reached the place of the final battle. They were standing on the great staircase leading up to the lair of the dragon. During their journey they had fought many other battles and had been wounded and discouraged many times. The Lady Yuna who was the leader of them all had used her magic powers to heal and comfort until she was almost worn out herself. She had been a pretty little thing when she started out on her task, with a round face and eyes of two different colors – one blue and one green. It had been her job to fight the hardest duels with the most dangerous creatures because she had the strongest magic and could call on good demons to help her."

"I want to be Yuna," Juna breathed. The old man patted her head.

"Now Yuna was very tired and not so pretty. She looked at her little army with a great deal of concern. She wasn't sure they were strong enough to fight the dragon, Sin, until they had rested. So she made them sit down and take a quick nap. As they rested, she looked at Rikku and thought about how much she liked the girl. Rikku was a lively little girl, always ready for a good time, silly some of the time but a good fighter when she put her mind to it."

Juna tapped his knee, "I want to be Rikku."

"Then there was Paine; she was a tomboy who pretended not to care what happened to the others, but she was the most caring of them all. She was so loving and good she had to hide herself behind the mask of coolness and strength."

"Can I be Paine? I like to wear a mask." Juna clamored.

"When are you going to tell us about the boys? I'm tired of all these girls." Grail was short on patience when he was sleepy.

"Here they come: Tidus was a blonde athlete; he was a famous blitz-ball player and was Yuna's best friend. It's all right; they didn't kiss or do anything like that! He had fought Sin once before and had helped Yuna beat him then. He also came from a far-away land and was a stranger to Spira. Gippal was a lot like Rikku, in fact they were related. Gippal had only one eye and looked like a pirate with a black patch over the place where the missing eye had been. He liked the way he looked, thought it made him look like an adventurer. And Baralai? He was a priest. Don't turn up your noses; he wasn't the goody-goody kind of priest. He was a manly priest who tried to fight for the right and protect the weak, by the way, he used a staff for a weapon. I guess I forgot to tell you about their weapons. Yuna used a staff too because she was a sort of priestess. Rikku liked to use knives, being fast and a little sneaky. And Paine, ah Paine, she was good with almost everything from swords to guns. She was a real warrior-woman." He paused for a moment until a restless stirring from the children reminded him to continue. "Tidus was good at kicking and could handle a sword if he had to and Gippal was as clever as Rikku and a fine shooter – he could hit the mark every time. Is that all of them?" He counted on his fingers.

"No, what about Nooj? Who was he?" The little boy was the serious one, the one who never let anything be left out.

"Nooj? Now there was an interesting tale – he had been hurt by Sin in the last waking up time and had to work extra hard to keep up with the others. He had been good with a sword before he was hurt but now he used mostly a gun. Well, that takes care of the dramatis personnae."

"The what?" both children spoke together.

"The people in the story. The seven of them were on the great staircase which led to the place where Sin was lying coiled on a great treasure and breathing fire. They had to climb the stairs, avoid the dragon-breath and slay the monster – all without getting killed."

"How did they do that?" Juna's eyes had become large and round.

"They did it the way heroes always do things. They cooperated. They divided into three groups: Yuna and Tidus, Rikku and Gippal, and Paine and Baralai. And each group ..."

"Stop! Grandpa. What about Nooj? Didn't he have anybody?" It was, of course, Grail.

"No, Nooj was a loner. He ranged from group to group helping where he was needed. Anyway, the three groups went up the staircase and Rikku and Gippal came to the dragon's tail and decided that was where they would fight; Paine and Baralai chose to fight the body and Yuna and Tidus took on the head because Yuna was the leader and leaders always take the hardest job. So, Gippal and Rikku started hacking away at the lashing tail. They weren't very good at dodging and tails are pretty lively. You remember how the kitten switches her tail? It was like that. Pretty soon they were all covered with dragon blood which isn't like regular blood but smells like pig mud and is a sort of purple-brown. After they had hacked away for hours with their sharp little knives, the tail finally came off the body and turned into slime. The first two heroes danced a victory dance and took towels to clean up so they wouldn't make the others sick."

The children were quiet, fascinated now that the violence was finally beginning. The old man looked at them sadly; he had seen this happen so many times before in his long life.

"On the second part of the staircase, Paine and Baralai were fighting the body of the dragon. Every time Paine whacked it with her sword, Baralai sent a magic spell to shock it or burn it or freeze it. Between them, they had that body thrashing from side to side trying to get away from the blows. Because they were good at dodging, these two heroes managed to avoid getting dragon blood all over them and were having a very good time killing the body. It finally collapsed and disappeared in a cloud of dust which made Paine and Baralai cough but did them no harm. Meantime on the top of the staircase, Yuna and Tidus were having a harder time. When you fight the head of a dragon, you have not only the fiery breath but the poisoned teeth to deal with. Tidus had already been poisoned by bites twice and it was lucky Yuna was a healing magician. She had her hands full keeping Tidus healthy while he whaled away at the dragon's head with his sword. Finally Yuna had a moment to call a few of her good demons. They came – the fire demon, the ice demon, the storm demon, all of them and others and they all focused on the dragon and destroyed it completely. Not even a tooth was left. So the band of heroes won the treasure and went down the staircase and were welcomed by the people of Spira. What made the people so happy was not just that the dragon, Sin was gone and wouldn't bother them anymore but the heroes gave the whole treasure to the government. Spira became the most beautiful and magical place the universe had ever known. Nobody had to work; everything was free – even electronic games for children; everybody had his own flying ship and, indeed, everybody had everything and anything they wanted. And they all lived happily ever after. - Time for bed." He smiled not quite a smile.

Juna stood up, yawned and leaned on his knee, staring into his face. "Why isn't our Spira like that, Grandpa?"

"Everything gets old, sweet Juna, even worlds." He kissed her gently and gave her a little shove toward the door.

"But, Grandpa, what happened to Nooj?" Grail was a stubborn one; it ran in the family.

"Oh, he died." The old man said softly, the fire reflecting off the tarnished metal of his left arm and leg.

Dec 3, 20045181297


End file.
